Fabrication of fairy-circle-like nano-micelles with different optical properties based on the aminoanthraquinone-typed organic nanoparticles polymerization and their synergistically induced supramolecular-assembly

Abstract

Bottom-up nanoparticles (NPs) polymerization to fabricate large-nanoscale materials for excellent optical performance has become an emerging research hotspot. However, excessive aggregation effect in the process of NPs polymerization, which leads to degradation of the photophysical properties, hinders the further application of organic conjugated molecules (OCMs) in supramolecular assembled nano-optical materials. A novel construction strategy based on the self-aggregation of aminoanthraquinone-typed organic dots (ODs) as a supramolecular assembly driving force has been proposed in this work. In the assembly system of THF-H2O and Diox-H2O, the polymerizations of the ODs occur exclusively within nano-micelles formed by polystyrene-b-poly (acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA). In addition, PS-b-PAA nano-micelles can interact with aminoanthraquinone-type ODs, which provides a synergistic effect to induce the assembly of ODs. The utilization of the NPs polymerization-induced self-assembly method can effectively prevent uncontrolled growth caused by excessive aggregation of OCMs-type NPs, allowing for better control over their degree of aggregation. In both of these assembly systems, aminoanthraquinone-type ODs can form different aggregates and disperse uniformly within fairy ring-shaped nano-micelles. Due to the different aggregation states of the ODs, the supramolecular nanomaterials exhibit distinct optical properties in different assembly systems. These unique optical properties have been utilized to construct quenching-type and colorimetric-type optical probes for hydrazopyridine and its derivatives. The novel approach of simultaneous polymerization and assembly for OCMs-type NPs offers a new strategy for the fabrication of high-performance optical nanostructured materials.